Monthly Archives: February 2012

Khader Adnan has been on hunger strike for 66 days against his “administrative detention” by Israel without charge or trial. His fight for the rights of Palestinian political prisoners has garnered mass support from Amnesty International stating “Israeli authorities have revealed no evidence justifying his continued detention.”

The online campaign via Twitter using the hashtag #HungerStrikingfor65days was the strongest hashtag yet, tens of thousands tweeted using that hashtag and it remained the #1 globally trending topic. Social media has got millions of people to pay attention to Khader Adnan’s case online.

For as long as I can remember, The West & Israel have continually stated the Palestinians should forego any means of armed resistance for “non violent” peaceful demonstration.

Many have continually asked where the Palestinian Ghandhi’s are?

With armed resistance against Israel at an all time low, despite continual bombings and assassinations carried out with impunity by israeli death squads, Palestinians have not reacted in any forceful manner.

This israeli policy of “administrative detention” is no different to the internment policy used by the apartheid era South African government. Khader Adnan is one case, but israel holds men, women and children in prison. Many, like Khader, have no charges made against them and are imprisoned on an indefinite basis.

No due process, no habeas corpus, no justice, a crime in itself from the self styled “Only democracy in the Middle East”.

Recently I’ve been re-reading Joe Sacco’s Palestine a moving comic/graphic novel that captures the issues of Palestine in a very simple and yet compelling manner. I’d go as far as to say that if you know someone who knows absolutely nothing about Palestine, give them this book to read and you’ll have a Pro-Palestine advocate on your hands.

There was a chapter in the book titled “The tough & the dead” which I’ve embedded below. This is what typically happens to the people that israel puts through it’s indefinite imprisonment without charge or trial, that it gives the innocuous sounding term “administrative detention”.

It is wholly relevant to what our political prisoners like Khader Adnan are put through:

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I am updating the blog on a regular weekly basis and would like to thank my regular readers for their patience over my haphazard output recently. If you wish to engage with me on a daily basis, the please follow me on twitter @HotterThanCurry

In my article last week “Syria, UN Resolutions & the Bigger Picture” I attempted to show the wider strands of the dirty game being played in Syria. I’ve been accosted by many who feel that I’m somehow Pro-Assad as I am lacking in my revolutionary zeal. The rather unfortunate truth of a manufactured regime change carried out by Muslims, ostensibly for the benefits of “The West” and her client states in the Middle East, is lost upon the people.

It is this exact cold hearted realism of RealPolitik that Muslims, rightly or wrongly lack. Unable to take a step back from the images of death and destruction the mass media pepper us with in their quest for humanitarian intervention (a lie exposed last week) that makes us jump in two footedly without thinking first. It is the kindness we have for our fellow Muslims that is being exploited.

That’s not me being cold hearted.

That is what the enemy sees of us.

Do I support the rebels and should Muslims in “The West”?

If we’re dealing in black and white answers, then the answer is a resounding yes.

Can we add conditions to our support?

Why not.

Crucially, do we have any say on what replaces the Assad regime?

No.

Whether you wish to accept it or not, the opposition in Syria are sponsored by the US, Britain, France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Syrian National Council, assorted ‘activists’ in exile, some closely linked to the British Foreign Office and the US State Department.

For the Muslim Brotherhood, the issue is revenge for Hafez al Assad’s repression of their revolt in 1982, the destruction of a secular government and perhaps the installation of a new system which they expect to dominate.

For the US and their client state Saudi Arabia – Iran, Syria and Hizbullah are three parts of the same problem. The Saud’s regard Iran as the ‘head of the snake’ and have pleaded with the US to attack it on many occasions under the Bush regime as well as the current US administration. As we’re all too aware a direct attack on Iran, would remove the cloak from the covert war already being waged and would be catastrophic to the countries waging it.

Far be it for me to tell the BBC & the western media what the fallout would be from a military attack on live nuclear reactors, not that the consequences of any “collateral damage” are ever discussed seriously. Former UN weapons inspector Hans Blix stated military strikes would be ”a path to disaster rather than a solution” before adding that Iran “posed no imminent threat”.

As I pointed out Russia & China are unwilling to back UN Security Council resolutions. Military planners in “The West” are using the second option to destabilise Syria. By bringing down the Syrian government and rupturing its strategic relationship with Iran and Hizbullah, the check mate position is in sight for the US and its Western, Gulf and of course Israeli partners.

When we take Syria in a wider context of the countries hit by the Arab Spring, we can clearly see new geopolitical boundaries being drawn. The so called “Islamist parties” (a term I dislike, but used for western discourse) have come or are likely to come to govern in Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt. Perhaps even in Libya if elections are ever held.

What parties say when they are in opposition and what they feel obliged to do when they are the ruling governments are two different propositions. Rashid Ghannushi, the leader of Tunisia’s Al Nahda party has held quiet talks with the Israelis in Washington and has indicated that Palestine will not be a priority for the new Tunisian government.

The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt is dithering over maintaining existing peace treaties with Israel; the sticking point seems to be how many billions of dollars in aid they’ll receive for selling out.

Thus far in a area undergoing rapid change, Syria is the player not playing the game, standing firm against the US and Israel on the one hand and the rising Saudi-Gulf axis on the other.

Make no mistake “The West” is on the hunt for another war in the Middle East. War is profitable business; why else do you think military supplier BAE systems announced an 18% rise in profits yesterday, amidst a global recession.

The essence of the campaign against Syria is ultimately Iran. Provocation with scientists being assassinated and the US navy on the Straits of Hormuz are a clear intention to goad Iran into retaliating and providing a pretext for the armed attack that many in Israel and the US want.

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The image used is titled “Crocodiles of Arabia” and the credit goes to Khalil Bendib

The UK, US and France have vigorously attempted to get a UN security resolution passed on the ever worsening conditions in Syria, a resolution which has been vetoed by both permanent UNSC members China & Russia.

“Some influential members of the international community unfortunately… have been undermining the opportunity for political settlement, calling for a regime change, pushing the oppositionists to power”

“sell out the Syrian people and shield a craven tyrant……any further bloodshed that flows will be on their hands”

Our very own William Hague hasn’t been that far behind his American counterpart, stating the veto:

“lets the Syrian people down, and will only encourage President Assad’s brutal regime to increase the killing”

Almost every single player involved in this unfolding tragedy are engaged in the same manner of self righteous indignation. The same players of course that were prominent in the regime change in Libya.

I’m no fan of the regimes in Damascus, Moscow or Beijing, but are they right to veto the resolution?

Yes

But not for the whiter than white reasons they might claim.

There is a far greater game being carved out in the Middle East, sadly our media (as well as Al Jazeera) is presenting it as a simple case of acrimony amidst the geo-political self interests of China and Russia, against the benevolent and kind hearted nature of UNSC members that supported the resolution.

The resolution was of course itself driven by political machinations, by strategic demands and potential gains. It is downright perfidious to suggest that the real concerns of the western political powers are with the Syrian people.

For example, last Friday’s attack on Homs was reported to have killed more than two hundred people, in reality the number was later revised to fifty five. Fifty five deaths too many, but when your only sources are “activists” that you are using to bolster another western intervention, the veracity of the information cannot be guaranteed. The apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree where the Assad’s are concerned. Basher’s father, Hafez gave the go ahead for the Hama massacre of February 1982 that left tens of thousands of Syrians dead.

Do I condemn Assad and his regime, of course I do, whole heartedly, but not for the same reasons of self interest “The West” has.

With Libya as the new template for regime change, we have to ask the questions that no one else is asking:

“In Syria, we did the signals intelligence to geo-locate the bad guys in a very denied area”

So will direct intervention like in Libya improve the situation?

These are the questions to which we should be demanding answers, yet they are not even being asked. The official narrative (same as Libya) is of the archetypal evil Arab tyrant, butchering his own people. These narratives are of course promoted by the very same people who want regime change in Syria.

Are atrocities being committed?

Yes.

Can we say conclusively who is committing them all?

The Arab League observer mission (not that it carries much gravitas, when tyrants from equally abhorrent murderous neighbouring states are doing the observing) stated it is not conclusive who is perpetrating the acts of terror in Syria. If we believe NATO and effectively the US is on the ground in Syria in some capacity, could they be responsible for some of them?

The cases of full Western invention are being made, with the now well worn ‘we cannot stand idly by’ argument that “The West” should provide the opposition with special forces training of the kind that was provided in Libya

The policy for Syria is being developed in America, of that there should be no doubt.

Therefore it’s probably best to leave you with the cold hearted realism of the realpolitik espoused by neo con and “Israel firster” Charles Krauthammer. In a recent op-ed piece in TheWashington Post the game plan for regime change in Syria and external intervention were made all too startlingly clear:

“His (Assad) fall would deprive Iran of an intra-Arab staging area and sever its corridor to the Mediterranean. Syria would return to the Sunni fold. Hezbollah, Tehran’s agent in Lebanon, could be next, withering on the vine without Syrian support and Iranian material. Hamas would revert to Egyptian patronage. At the end of this causal chain, Iran, shorn of key allies and already reeling from economic sanctions over its nuclear program, would be thrown back on its heels”

He continued:

“Force the issue. Draw bright lines. Make clear American solidarity with the Arab League against a hegemonic Iran and its tottering Syrian client. In diplomacy, one often has to choose between human rights and strategic advantage. This is a rare case where we can advance both — so long as we do not compromise with Russia or relent until Assad falls.”

Does it make it clearer now?

It’s Iran and it always has been about Iran.

After the illegal invasion of Iraq for the purpose of regime change, “The West” quickly learnt that the blowback on their own shores from a restive Muslim population would cause immense problems. So how do “The West” engineer regime change now?

Understand that whilst our politicians in the UK pontificate about the ever worsening condition of the Syrian people, the real drivers for the resolution come from the Americans.

They are not concerned about the slaughter in Syria or anywhere else in the region. Their murderous intent of reshaping the region is polished with the veneer of respectability afforded by the useful idiots in the FCO and the media right here in the UK.

For me, the motives are clear, and that’s why I will not support any UNSC resolutions bought forward by America and her cronies.

It’s always galling how the community leaders can muster their flock into a show of force, but these very same people will not bat an eye lid when Islam is attacked every single day – the Prophet SAW is insulted, or Muslims are butchered – don’t say nothing in the Masajids as no politics are allowed.

If you try and speak out against the passivity being preached, one of the “respected elders” are quick to remind you:

"Truth stands out clear from Error: whoever rejects evil & believes in Allah has grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold that never breaks. And Allah hears & knows all things."
(The Qur'an, Al-Baqara, 2: 256)

“Political authority & religion are kin brothers, neither would stand but by its companion; because religion is the foundation of political power & its pillar, & political power is the guardian of religion; political power is not established with a foundation & religion cannot be implemented without authority.”
- Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi

"War is not merely a political act, but also a political instrument, a continuation of political relations, a carrying out of the same by other means" - Clausewitz

"O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things)."
(The Qur'an, Al Hujurat, 49: 13)